(L-R) Violinists Simon Maurer and Dana Allaband, violist Agnes Maurer and cellist Gerall Hieser of the Gabriel Chamber Ensemble. Not pictured: pianist Xun Pan. PHOTOS BY LINDSEY SHUEY
Originally published in the Pottsville Republican-Herald on February 28, 2022.
SCHUYLKILL HAVEN — Johannes Brahms was a perfectionist.
According to legend, when an acquaintance of the German composer asked him if he had worked on his symphony that day, he responded: “Yes. In the morning I put in an eighth note. In the afternoon I took it out.”
The Gabriel Chamber Ensemble showed the same perfectionism and attention to detail Sunday when it performed Brahms’ Piano Quintet in F minor at Jerusalem Evangelical Lutheran Church.
Pianist Xun Pan, violinists Simon Maurer and Dana Allaband, violist Agnès Maurer (Simon’s wife) and cellist Gerall Hieser played with great passion and nuance.
The Brahms quintet was a deep ocean of undulating Romanticism. Pan’s piano playing was a work of chiaroscuro, bold contrasts between bell-like clarity and simmering darkness. The piano shook from the ferocious beauty of his playing.
Xun Pan at the piano.
The strings soared during the throbbing vitality of the third movement, especially Hieser, whose cello shimmered and rippled like the sea.
Gerall Hieser at the cello.
Brahms, in his quest for perfection, burned a string quartet that he wrote. Thankfully, he spared his piano quintet from the flames.
The Gabriel also performed Antonin Dvorak’s Piano Quintet No. 2 in A major, which Pan called “the dessert” after the darkness of the Brahms. It certainly wasn’t empty calories, though. Brahms was Dvorak’s hero, and his inspiration is clear throughout. Like Brahms’, the Dvorak quartet periodically rises and falls in heart-wrenching climaxes, giving Agnès Maurer’s viola and Hieser’s cello time in the spotlight.
Dvorak’s music combined the lush romanticism of the likes of Brahms with folk melodies, especially those of his native land, which is now the Czech Republic. The second movement was a dumka, a form of folk music originating from Ukraine. It gave the concert a double dose of poignant relevance.
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